One resident, Jennifer Navarrete, offered the following response:Excellent response. I will admit my growing distaste for
this city government's despicable antics! There is no threat to their inflated
salaries, so MANY of these officials I have encountered are NOT in it for the
average resident, and MOST CERTAINLY NOT even a thought about Torrance youth.
Inflated salaries" is a nice way to put it.

The fact is that city employees are living off of city residents, especially when the city attorney is getting $300k + a year, and still the lawsuits hammer the city.

I can't below that high-ranking officials within different departments in the city are literally walking away with so much cash. Who is responsible for all of this?

The signs, the street seeping, the refinery, the potholes, the exigent number
of police who show up to pull one car over....but this same TPD ignores serial
robberies ?!?!
The extravagant number of police showing up at one traffic stop or incident--that has been going on for decades. My mother used to complain about the long chain of police cars which would rush down the street to a call-out.

Was it all necessary then? Is it still necesasry now? Where are the police officers walking the proper beat in key parts of our city. I think more community policing is in order, and not just a bunch of community coffees once a month.

No one should deride the good work of our public safety officials. However, the expense for public safety cannot become an excuse to dole our millions a year which divert money from other places.

Serving and protecting their own vested interests, not the people
of Torrance. I've watched this city change over 20 years, and I can't understand
the salary increases and financial WASTE that just gets swept under the rug!!
Clint Paulson called it out during the 2014 city council races. Other residents have bellowed about the extravagance, from ethics classes to mailers.

After the bond measure stunt that was pulled on all of TUSD, (regarding the use
of the pool), how can we parents continue to support their oversight (and let's
not even rehash the whole nepotism problem on the various boards!) of these
projects and future measures??
Great point. For the record, I voted against all the bonds, even the ones floated by the state legislature through the initiative process. There is no trust accountability, or oversight in the city mismanagement of our money.

We have been duped, and the meetings are a
fiasco, every one! So much double talk and lying through teeth, and splitting
hairs over the wrong damn details! These are grown, greedy adults dictating the
future of this city...sad role models for our youth. Sad trajectory for
Torrance.

"Grown, greedy adults" pretty much sums it up.

How did events progress to this point?

Most of the dedicated conservative activists have given up and left the state. Lots of Republicans and local control advocates certainly have done that.

I would also submit that Sacramento Democrats have undermined local authority--especially during the last eight years of crisis after crisis. Labor unions have gotten stronger and more bellicose, or even desperate.

With a Trump Administration coming in soon, I imagine that a number of federal reforms will benefit the entire country, including California, and give the "little people" a better change at commanding more power and influence in the city of Torrance.